I am a fan of MJ. I would not consider myself a die-hard fan but I am a fan. Since my younger years, his music moved me and his movements and sense of rhythm were awe-inspiring. At that age, we just called that: cool.
Though I mourned the loss of a great like Michael Jackson. I didn’t think I would be that emotionally affected like the scores of fans that were devastated enough to wail in such sorrow and anguish.
Yet I became surprisingly overwhelmed by a sense of something that I can’t completely articulate upon seeing this icon known as Michael Jackson be remembered, honored, cherished, loved in the very public memorial service in Los Angeles that was re-broadcasted on BET. Maya Angelou said it best through her words read aloud by Queen Latifah.
Yes, it was a lot of hype.
Yes, the same press that spent years harassing, ridiculing, and chastising MJ was in some ways yet again, capitalizing... But this time on his death.
Yes, over the years, that same media and a likely reality, exposed a darker side of Michael Jackson in his questionable decisions, and his relationship with children. I don’t think anyone can deny that he was troubled in many very apparent ways.
But watching his video clips, pictures, reflections of him by his admirers, friends and family, made it clear that no one can deny his genius, his magic.
What is this “magic,” that special something? I had a very knowing sensation in me as I was watching Michael’s growth from young to older during the broadcast. It is the same feeling that I get when I experience other brilliant dancers, musicians, athletes, and artists. It is the glimpse of God in them that gives me this feeling. I know God is an extremely loaded word but here I mean: a higher consciousness, something of God or however you want to phrase it. Basically, I mean something special, which logic and the mind cannot easily explain away. Something that, if you quiet your mind……………………..you will recognize without realizing.
Micheal had that something that cannot be explained. In his songs, dance, words, eyes, body, being. And if you think of it that way, it is really easy to understand how we as humans responded to him. Some of us worshipped him like an idol. Why? Because we saw that something in him and we worshipped that something. Some of us deemed him creepy, a pedophile, screwed up, cheesy, over-hyped, ugly. Why? Because we could not see, we did not recognize, or were too afraid to see that something in him. There is no wrong or right in that. Really, it is what it is. It has happened time immemorial to individuals that burst into our world living by something other than the status quo. For better or for worse.
In my case, I felt something very heartening in accepting the feeling that I told you I could not articulate. I still can’t do that something justice. But I can tell you that it was beautiful and I whole heartedly agree that something indescribably amazing has passed on with MJ. It is my hope that I will see that greatness manifest itself in another beautiful form in this lifetime. So our children can be inspired and fall in love with that something again. I have no doubt that we will.
